TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — Honduras’ interim government is cracking down on civil rights in response to ousted President Manuel Zelaya’s calls for rebellion.
The order announced by government officials late Sunday suspends key individual liberties and guarantees contained in the Honduran Constitution — allowing authorities to ban any “unauthorized” public meetings, arrest people without warrants and temporarily close news-media outlets that “attack peace and order.” The government said the measure is in response to Zelaya’s “calls for insurrection.”
Honduras also expelled personnel from the Organization of American States attempting to set up a mediation effort and gave Brazil a 10-day ultimatum to decide what to do with Zelaya, who is holed up in the Brazilian Embassy.
OAS Special Adviser John Biehl told reporters in the capital, Tegucigalpa, that he and four other members of an advance team — including two Americans, a Canadian and a Colombian — were stopped by authorities after landing at Tegucigalpa’s airport Sunday.
Biehl, who is Chilean, said he was later told he could stay, but the others were put aboard flights out of the country.
Interim government Foreign Minister Carlos Lopez said the four were turned back because they had been “clearly warned” that they had to give advance notice of their visit, and didn’t.
Interim President Roberto Micheletti has previously said the OAS was welcome to come but suggested that representatives begin arriving today.
Zelaya surprised the world by sneaking into Honduras last week. He called on his followers nationwide to mark today’s three-month anniversary of the coup with a mass march in the capital to demand his reinstatement, what he called “the final offensive” against the interim government.
